Delaware coach Monte Ross never answers his phone on game day, so even when he got a call last week from a Washington, D.C., area code on the morning of his team's CAA conference championship game, he didn't pick up.

Ross tried to call the number back but, alas, it's not so easy to get in touch with the second most powerful man in the country. A few minutes later Biden, who earned a bachelor's degree from Delaware and represented the state in the U.S. Senate for nearly four decades, called Ross again.

"I thought he was just going to say good luck," Ross said, "but we talked for five or ten minutes and he was in Chile. He was at a big heads of state dinner in Chile and he said, look, I wanted to call you after the game to congratulate you because I'm sure you guys are going to win, but I'll be in a big dinner and I won't be able to get away."

You've got to love the VP's confidence here. And, as it turned out, he was right. Delaware slipped by William & Mary, 75-74, and earned the conference's automatic bid.

The next afternoon Biden called back to congratulate Ross. This time the coach picked up.